


Stirring in the Sands

by chlodobird



Series: The Dragon of Hell's Kitchen [7]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Matt Murdock, BAMF Miles Morales, BAMF Peter Parker, Deaf Clint Barton, Defenders Game Night, Gen, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Magic, Memory Magic, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Psychic Abilities, Team Dynamics, Telepathy, The Hand, Thor (Marvel) is Not Stupid, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, clint barton has a crisis, memory sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23208106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chlodobird/pseuds/chlodobird
Summary: The Avengers have looked into Daredevil before- he was accused of blowing up half of Hell's Kitchen. Definitely slightly alarming. But they dropped the issue when the truth came out, and moved on. Now there have been rumors of dragons in New York, and Daredevil is back on their radar.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Avengers Team, Clint Barton & Matt Murdock, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Luke Cage & Jessica Jones & Matt Murdock & Danny Rand & Claire Temple & Colleen Wing, Matt Murdock & Heather Douglas, Matt Murdock & Peter Parker, Matt Murdock & Thor
Series: The Dragon of Hell's Kitchen [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660564
Comments: 42
Kudos: 360





	1. Clint Barton, Master Spy

Natasha walked into the meeting room, sipping her coffee in a desperate bid to gain the energy needed to put up with the Avengers, and immediately groaned when he saw what was written on the whiteboard.

“Seriously, Tony? I thought all of us agreed to leave Daredevil alone.”

“I know,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “This is different.”

She raised her eyebrows dubiously, but took a seat at the table anyway and waited for the others to trickle in.

Not everyone was at the compound of course; Wanda and Vision were off being romantic in Scotland somewhere. T’Challa was busy ruling his country. Thor was setting up New Asgard, and Bruce was with him enjoying the peace and quiet. Rhodes was off in Europe somewhere, talking to politicians about responses to international Avengers-level threats.

Still, enough of them lived in New York to be on call for situations that weren’t quite emergencies yet. Steve and Bucky settled down together in Brooklyn once the latter had finished recovering in Wakanda, and the former walked in only five minutes after Natasha. Sam had moved to New York, reasoning that veterans were veterans, and the pizza was better than DC. He got to the meeting shortly before Steve did. Clint lived in Bed-Stuy, and frequently hung out at the Avengers HQ.

None of the others, besides Clint, knew where Nat lived.

“Anyone else coming?” Tony asked rhetorically. “No? Great. Let’s do this.”

“Didn’t Natasha say no investigating Daredevil?” Clint said, his voice nonchalant.

She gave him a nod. “I did. But when does Tony listen?”

“Hey! I listen. But the situation changed.”

Steve leaned forward curiously. “What’s different now?”

“He’s a fucking _dragon_.”

Clint crossed his arms and said, “Shouldn’t we call Thor for magic shit?”

“I already did,” he replied with barely restrained glee. “He said as soon as he figures out where he set down his axe, he’ll fly over.”

“So why did you call us here? Daredevil’s not even a bad dude.” Sam asked.

“He’s a dragon, which means we have to keep tabs on him,” Tony explained.

The others studiously avoided eye contact, and Nat broke the silence. “Just because he’s not human doesn’t mean he has to be watched.”

“Yeah, Thor’s not human and we don’t watch him,” Clint added.

“SHIELD did! He was considered a threat at first, remember?”

Steve gave him a disapproving look. “Do you really want to do the same things HYDRA did?”

“Okay, fine, maybe I’m just curious,” Tony grumbled. “Still. Can’t we just talk to him? Maybe he’ll work with us! We’ve never recruited him before, because he’s a street level vigilante, but something that might be as strong as Thor? They would be a big help in case of another alien invasion.”

“He’s got a point,” Sam admitted.

Nat glanced around the room. They all seemed pretty on board for meeting with the vigilante, so she took charge. “Who are we sending to talk to him? We can’t all go.”

“Let me!” Tony immediately said.

“How about Clint?” Steve suggested. “One of the spies, for sure. He seems pretty secretive.”

“I could probably get him off his game,” Clint said thoughtfully. Natasha recognized the look in his eye- he was already contemplating the best strategy to get information.

She nodded. “I think that would work.”

He grinned at her. “This is gonna be great.”

Later that night, Clint sat on a roof in Hell’s Kitchen, bored to tears. “This was a shitty idea, and I blame you, Steve,” he whispered into his comm.

“Noted. Now focus, Barton.”

Clint scanned the buildings around him again, and groaned. “I’m never gonna find him.”

“Exactly. I find you,” A voice growled from behind him.

Clint swore and whirled. “When the hell did you get here?”

Somehow, the Devil had found the shadiest part of the rooftop to lurk in. A champion lurker. Very menacing. Clint recollected his thoughts, and put on a winning smile. His prepared story wouldn’t work now that the Devil found him first, so he was going to have to ad lib.

“Why are you here?” Daredevil said, his voice low and dangerous.

Maybe he could alter his story a little. “I’m Agent Rogers, I work for Homeland Security. We’re investigating the reports of a dragon around here, and we heard that you had information about it.”

“Liar. Tell me the truth.” He strode forward a couple of steps, and Clint got a little worried. He was a pretty damn good liar, so for him to be called out?

“Clint, If things get dangerous, bail,” Nat whispered through the comms. “This guy’s pretty fucking good, even without turning into a dragon.”

“I’m trying to track down the Russian mob. They’re in my apartment building, and I need your help finding the leader. Seems like your area of expertise.”

“Try again,” he growled. Another few steps.

Shit, seriously? That one wasn’t even fully a lie! He didn’t need anyone’s help with the asshole tracksuit mafia, but it was there! “Fine, I’m sorry for lying. I’m here because my friend is a huge fan.”

Apparently, that was strike three, because the vigilante took the final few steps to stand threateningly in front of him at the perfect distance to instigate a fight. “Clint Barton, tell me _everything._ ”

What the fuck? He knew who he was? But no one ever recognizes Clint!

“I just want to talk, man!”

“Then talk. Truthfully.”

Clint nodded, and channeled his inner Nick Fury. “I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative.”

Daredevil tilted his head thoughtfully, and Clint waited for the true/false verdict. Was the vigilante just assuming everything he said was a lie?

“Why do you want me to join the Avengers now?”

Clint took a deep breath. Honesty. He could do honesty. Except really, only Nat had all the facts about his life. He lied to the Avengers and told them that one of his old circus friends was his wife (she was more like a sister, if anything), and he lied to Laura about pretty much everything about his job, and he lied to the Avengers by pretending he wasn’t deaf. SHIELD had given him hearing aids that were pretty much invisible, and the Avengers never noticed. He was a spy, he lied like it was second nature. Most of them had a grain of truth, but not all of them.

“We heard that you could turn into a dragon. If that’s true, you would be a big help in the case of a large-scale alien invasion, like the Battle of New York.”

Daredevil laughed menacingly. “You’re interested in using me?”

“I mean, to defend Earth? You live on Earth!”

“I was born long before you, and I’ll be alive long after,” he rumbled.

“Then why do you defend Hell’s Kitchen, if you don’t care what happens?”

He gave Clint a bloodthirsty grin with teeth that were slightly too sharp to be normal. “That’s for me to know.”

CLint sighed, reminding himself that Daredevil probably wouldn’t beat him up, even if his teeth were spooky. Probably. “Come on, dude, just work with me here. Will you at least come and meet the rest of the team?”

“Will Stark be there?”

“Um, yeah, why?”

Another grin. Clint was starting to wonder if maybe dragons thrived on freaking people out. The vigilante swept into a quick bow, and said mockingly, “Lead the way.”

After five minutes, Spider-Man swung up to them and joined them in jogging across rooftops, and Daredevil’s personality did a 180 degree turn.

“Hey, Spidey, what ‘s up? I thought tomorrow was our patrol.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have any homework. Ned was busy so I figured I’d come hang out with you. Whatcha doin with Hawkeye?”

“I’m about to go lecture Stark for his poor behaviour.”

Clint turned around just in time to see Peter grab the Devil’s shoulder and dig in his heels. “Please don’t!”

“Oh, come on. The guy promised he would mentor you and then didn’t! You got a building dropped on you because he wouldn’t pick up his damn phone!”

“Leave it! It’s in the past! I’d rather have you than him anyway!”

Should he be here for this? It sounded like an argument they’d had before, and his comms came alive with Nat’s voice. “Clint, let this play out. We want Daredevil, and if we can get Spider-Man back on board for Tony, we have two more heroes waiting in the wings.”

Daredevil held up a hand to stop the kid. “We’ve got an audience.” he turned, and shifted into a stance that was more ready to fight. “Looks like I won’t be joining you for that chat after all. Get out of my city.”

Clint watched the two bicker as they headed back into Hell’s Kitchen, and he sighed. “That didn’t go great.”

“No, it didn’t,” Steve agreed.

“I told you I should have gone,” Tony added.

Clint snorted. “What part of Daredevil wanting to lecture you makes you think you should have gone? He’d probably have just turned into a dragon and eaten you.”

“So you were going to bring him back here to turn into a dragon and eat me?” he squawked indignantly.

“That was the plan,” Clint jabbed. “Another day, another grudge. Have you tried being nice to people?”

“Once. It didn’t take.”

“Obviously.”

As the other continued to break down what went wrong and what they would do next, Clint quietly switched off his comms. It had been a long time since someone could tell when he was lying, and right on cue, his phone buzzed. He picked up with a tired sigh.

“Hey, Nat.”

“I ditched the meeting. Nothing productive was happening anyway. Are you okay? You sound kind of shaken.”

“It’s just weird. Having to tell the whole truth. I only do that with you. You know that.” He glanced out over the buildings, taking in the lights.

“I do know. If you want, I could track him down and find out the truth about him,” she offered.

“Nah. I’ll just go hang out with my dog, y’know? Lucky’s a good boy.”

“How’s Kate doing?”

“Good. Still flying under the Avengers radar.”

“It helps that she’s back on the West Coast with her friends, probably.”

Clint sighed again. “I was thinking about telling the others more of the truth. But I still don’t trust them like I trust you.”

Nat was quiet for a while. “Do it when you feel ready. If you ever feel ready. They still don’t know much about my past. Not like you do.”

“You’re right.”

He glanced over the windows of the apartment building across from his position. A woman knitting. A couple eating dinner together. A group of teens playing video games.

“Just . . . This Devil guy really has me thinking, I guess,” he continued. “It was better when Katie was here. She didn’t know everything, but she knew enough.”

“Let me know if you decide to say anything. I’ll back you up.”

“Maybe.”

The pair was quiet for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. On Nat’s end, there was a clatter, and she sighed almost imperceptibly. “I have to go. I’ll be over tonight with pizza and alcohol.”

“Thanks, Nat. See you then.”

He hung up, and made his way to the nearest subway station. On his way home, he contemplated which Avengers would be good to tell. He ruled them out one by one, and sighed. The only one he actually trusted was Natasha.

Maybe think of it a different way. Instead of one person to share a lot with, maybe he could find a secret of his that he wouldn’t mind sharing with the group?

Hm.

Shit.

He groaned and buried his head in his hands. Why was he so fucking secretive?

Okay. One secret to share. He could do that.

“Laura’s not actually my wife.” No, that would be admitting he directly lied to them, they would have follow-up questions.

“I ran away when I was a kid and joined the circus.” _Nope_. Way too personal, way too long ago, way too many questions. Definitely not.

“I’m deaf.” Maybe. He kept the hypothetical going. Okay. He told them he was deaf. Most of them probably wouldn’t care. That was fine. He could tell them that.

Shit. “I’m never going to tell them anything.”

It kind of all boiled down to the fact that they were coworkers, not friends. He trusted them to watch his back, but he didn’t choose them to trust with his personal life.

He took a moment to be thankful that the fancy phones Stark gave all the Avengers worked in the subway, and texted Nat, “I need some normal person friends.”

His phone beeped a few seconds later with, “Then get some.” and he stared down at it in disgust.

That wasn’t helpful at all. Maybe he wasn’t glad about the Stark upgrades.

He glanced up at the map. Eight more stops till he had to switch trains. Plenty of time to think.

Well, maybe he could tell them something? 

No. He’d already gone over that. Wasn’t gonna happen.

Maybe one of his fellow passengers would help?

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said to the elderly lady on his left. “If you keep secrets from your friends, how would you tell them the truth after like, five years?”

She stared at him over her glasses. “Just keep lying until someone catches you.”

“Thanks.”

Well, that wasn’t helpful.

Unless . . . He dug his phone out to text Nat.

Arrowsarecool: Random Subway Lady thinks I should just keep lying

Nat: Do you always make normal person friends this way?

arrowsarecool: we’re not friends. don’t be ridiculous.

Nat: More ridiculous than asking a random subway lady for advice?

arrowsarecool: I see ur point

arrowsarecool: but

arrowsarecool: what if I jsut kept lying

Nat: I already told you to do what feels right.

arrowsarecool: FINE I guess you’re just NOT GOING TO HELP

Nat: By help, do you mean tell you what to do?

arrowsarecool: NO

arrowsarecool: maybe

arrowsarecool: come on, just give me a little hint about what you would do in my place

Nat: I don’t know, Clint. I’m not you. You’re the only one who can make that decision.

Clint typed out four different beginnings to a response, but eventually just scowled down at the phone.

Fuck it.

He opened up the Avengers group chat, and typed up a quick announcement.

Arrowsarecool: hey guys fun fact time! I’m deaf, and I’m not married to Laura, she’s just a close friend, who I met at the circus when I ran away as a kid. We were criminals. it was the Circus of Crime. I’ve been lying my ass off ever since i met you guys.

To send, or not to send? That’s the goddamn question.

He sighed, and sent the text. Who fucking cared.

It only took thirty seconds for his phone to buzz. He scrambled to check his texts. What were the other Avengers going to say?

starknaked: HA I KNEW IT

starknaked: an agent and smaller agents!

starknaked: fucking liar

starknaked: no hard feelings though.

capncrunch: Is there anything we can do to accomodate you during missions? what would you need if an EMP fried your hearing aids?

arrowsarecool: Nat’s got me covered. she’s fluent in ASL

starknaked: i can make better hearing aids for you. I don’t know how they work yet, but I will

Nat: Decided against following RBL’s advice?

arrowsarecool: yeah, figured i might as well

arrowarecool: tony, you don’t have to make new aids for me. the SHIELD ones work fine

stark’s friend: hey, man, its cool. I don’t care if you’ve been lying to us

longhairdontcare: Seconded.

arrowsarecool: awwwww you guys r great

arrowsarecool: unless you’re being sarcastic

capncrunch: no, I’m sitting next to Bucky, he seems sincere

mr phd: isn’t it like one am in New York? What are you doing?

Arrowsarecool: tracking down a dragon, nbd

He set the phone down and sighed. He told them the truth, yeah. They were fine with it. But . . . Maybe he did need some friends that weren’t Avengers.

Maybe he would track down some of those New York vigilantes. The ones Daredevil had been seen hanging around with from time to time. When Spider-Man intercepted them, the Devil seemed like a decent guy.

Maybe.


	2. Allies in the Winds and Clouds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team bonds over being multi-lingual, and meet another Avenger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i made a footnote!!!! so keep your eyes peeled for it, it links to the end notes! i've only seen them in Good Omens fics and it was way harder to do than I anticipated. of course, that could be because HTML is baffling and I am but a tired English major, looking for ways to emulate Terry Pratchett. enjoy!

Matt grinned at the pair of spiders in front of him. They’d taken a week to train Miles up a little bit, and let Melvin finish the suits, but they were finally ready to go on their first patrol with all three of them. 

“Alright, Miles, rule one is to follow my instructions no matter what. You’re new at this, so you’re going to hang back and watch how Peter and I operate. Secondly, my boyfriend said to call you Webs, and he gets the final say on nicknames. Claire is forever Hottie McBurnerphone, so. Could be worse.”

Miles didn’t sound thrilled. “And what’s Peter’s nickname?”

“Peter answers to brat, ingrate, leach, punk. Really, any insult I throw his way,” Matt shrugged. “It’s either Webs, Shortstack, or Newbie. Maybe kid. Your choice.”

“Fine.”

“Feel free to call Matt old man, idiot, dumbass, whatever,” Peter added smugly. “If we’re talking nicknames.”

“When I was your age, I had respect for my elders,” he said pointedly.

The teen laughed. “When you were my age, you told a nun to go fuck a horse!”

Miles’s heart rate soared. “You _what_?”

“I had anger issues,” Matt said with a shrug and a wince. “Plus, I lived in an orphanage, it’s not like I went out looking for nuns to insult.”

The kid’s heartbeat stayed fast, and he realized that Miles didn’t know much about either of them yet. “Oh, yeah. The orphanage thing. You’re joining a club full of tragic backstories. Get used to it.”

“¡Contra![1]” Miles muttered.

Matt tilted his head. “¿Hablas español?”

“¡Sí!” the teen said delightedly. “¿Cuándo aprendiste a hablarlo?”

“Durante la universidad. También, tenemos muchos clientes que lo hablan. ¿Y tu?”

“Mi madre es puertorriqueña.”

“Por si sirve de algo, también puedo hablar español. Lo aprendí en la escuela, y Mr. Delmar ayudó.” He half-laughed, and added, “Bene, mia zia mi ha insegnato un po 'di italiano.”

“Avresti dovuto dire qualcosa prima!” Matt said easily. “Mi piace parlare italiano, è così fluido.”

“You guys can speak three languages?” Miles said enviously.

“More than three,” Matt shrugged.

“Wait, how many _can_ you speak?” Peter asked curiously. “Because that one time, didn’t you say you were fluent in Russian?”

“I’m fluent in English, Spanish, Italian. Um, during college Elektra taught me some Greek, and I kept up with it after she left and became fluent. After I had issues with the Russian mob, I learned that just in case they cropped up again. Danny taught me Mandarin and Colleen taught me Japanese. What else? I’m working on French right now, trying to finish off the romance languages.”

The other two seemed surprised after Matt rattled off the list of languages, and Matt grinned at them. “I’m good at talking.”

“You never shut up,” Peter corrected automatically. He shook his head. “But seriously, Matt, that’s really impressive.” 

Matt opened his mouth to reply with some snark, but he froze. “Shit.” There was a surge of energy, moving in weird ways a few blocks down.

“What?” Peter was immediately on guard. After a year of working together, he knew when Matt was sensing something no one else did.

“I don’t know. A weird surge of energy, that way.” He pointed.

The other two both turned to look, and Matt shivered. “What the _fuck_? Atmosphere’s changing, too, a bit. Pressure’s dropping.”

Peter glanced up at the sky. “Storm clouds are moving in really fast. I think someone’s on that roof you were pointing at, but I can’t make out any features.”

Miles’s heart stuttered for a second. “Is that an axe?”

Matt got ready to shift into his dragon form, but Peter laughed. “Wait, guys, stand down. I think it’s Thor!”

“What the hell is he doing here in Hell’s Kitchen?”

Neither of the spiders had a good answer for him.

“Maybe, uh. Maybe he’s visiting a friend?” Miles said weakly.

Matt tilted his head to get a better read on the figure. It was too far away to get details, but (and he swore a little bit inside at this realization) he was coming closer.

Really, _really_ fast.

Was he flying?

He shifted just enough to be ready for a fight, and he heard Peter doing the same thing next to him. He subtly edged in front of Miles, and muttered, “Remember. I’m Daredevil, Peter’s Spidey, and you’re Webs. And if this turns into a fight, get out of here. You have Jessica’s number.”

Miles nodded, but when he replied, he sounded excited, not cautious. “This is so cool, man! A real Avenger!”

Thor was there before Matt could reply, and he put the mask of his vigilante personality over his physical mask. “What are you doing here?” he growled.

“My friends were interested in recruiting you, and I wanted to talk to you. I thought most of the dragons in this realm were destroyed.”

“I’m not going to join the Avengers,” Matt warned, still guarded. The lure of information about dragons was enticing, though.

Thor shrugged. He fucking- he felt _wrong_. Smelled like ozone and wind, almost like a dragon but not really at all. He tasted electric, like the air around Miles, only it was buzzing around him instead of in his veins like the spider-kid.

The axe at his side was even worse. It moved the air wrong. It was the weight of a normal axe, but it was so impossibly heavy in the air at the same time. Matt scowled at it under his mask. And- it almost felt alive with electricity. Like an extension of the alien.

“You’re not going to try to find out who any of us are?”

“Did Mr. Stark tell you who I am?” Peter asked.

Thor shook his head. “I avoid Avengers politics, I just help in fights. I’m here because I have experience with dragons before.” He chuckled a little. “There’s a few in New Asgard. They have some of the best stories.”

Matt loosened slightly, but Peter noticed, and followed his lead.

“When I heard a dragon was in New York, I wanted to come before they asked me to talk to you about the Avengers. Do you have any dragons around you to teach you?”

He hesitated. His mom would answer his questions if he asked, but she hated talking about being a dragon. She wouldn’t tell him stories like Thor said the Asgardians did.

“Not really.”

“I’d be more than happy to bring a dragon for you to meet! Brunnhilde won’t stop talking about how wonderful Moondragon is. I’m sure she would be amenable to visiting.”

Peter laughed. “Double D, I told you that you should have gone with a dragon themed superhero name.”

“Vigilante,” he automatically corrected. “We’ve been over this a dozen times.”

Miles picked that moment to chime in. “I think if the Avengers are trying to recruit you, you’re a superhero.”

“No! I rejected them, I’m staying a street-level vigilante.”

“You can turn into a dragon,” Peter reminded him. “That’s not street-level.”

Matt hissed wordlessly at both of the traitors and turned back to Thor. “Fine. Sure. Bring her.”

“Excellent! I will return tomorrow night,” he said warmly.

“For the record, Webs, not every patrol is going to kick off with a myth meeting you on the roof,” Matt said to Miles.

Peter laughed. “Double D, every patrol starts with a myth meeting you when you _work with a dragon_.”

Matt crossed his arms. “Dragons aren’t mythological, they’re just dumbass lizard people.”

“Like Conners?”

“You take that back!”

“Make me,” Peter snarked.

Matt grumbled under his breath. Usually that would be the point at which he and Peter would duke it out, with Matt inevitably the victor, but with Thor there, he was too on edge.

He turned his head back towards Thor. “You should go. We still have to patrol tonight.”

“Of course. Have a good night!”

The alien swung the strange axe and soared into the sky. It set Matt’s teeth on edge listening to them move through the air.

“Alright. Miles, Peter, you ready to go?”

Both of them nodded, and Miles asked, “You hear anything?”

Matt tilted his head and grinned, looking forward to the chance to let out some of his stress on an unsuspecting criminal. “Armed bodega robbery a block down. You and Peter go in on your own, I’ll hang back to see how you guys do.”

The pair nodded, and Matt led the way over the rooftops. “There,” he pointed.

Peter and Miles swung lightly down to street level and Matt listened as they slipped inside the store.

“Don’t come any closer, man, or I’ll shoot her!”

“Hey, chill out dude. We’re just here for some Cheetos,” Peter said peacefully. “We just got back from a convention and we’re fucking starving.”

“Oh. Uh, just grab some?” The robber was young, sounded kind of confused when confronted with something different from his expectations. Matt smirked.

Miles must have seen a signal from Peter, because he tossed out a web and grabbed the criminal’s gun before anyone could register the movement and respond.

Peter laughed and webbed the guy to the counter. “Great job Webs! And you,” he said to the robber, “remember, no need to go ballistic.”

“Seriously? Right now?” Miles groaned.

“I like puns!” he said defensively. “Ma’am, are you alright?”

The cashier hesitated. “I- I think so? A little freaked out, but like . . . I’ll freak out about it after my shift and my homework.” She sounded young, probably around Peter’s age.

“Do you want us to wait here with you until the police arrive?”

Matt imagined that she was probably staring at the robber while she made up her mind, and eventually she spoke. “How long does that take to dissolve? Can it break?”

“About an hour? And no, he’s just a normal dude.”

“You guys can go help other people. If he tries anything I’ll just hit him with a beer bottle,” she said decisively. “I’m sure there’s other crime happening right now.”

“Alright, ma’am, have a good night,” Miles said kindly.

They left, and Matt listened to her dial 911 and ask for help.

When the teens got up to the rooftop, Miles blurted, “Did that go okay?”

“You did great! Peter kept him distracted and you got the gun away. Good teamwork.”

Miles grinned. “Can I try the next one on my own, if there’s no gun?”

Matt tilted his head and nodded. “Mugging, right over there. Peter and I will be right above you if something goes wrong.”

The teen took off, racing over the rooftops and dropping down into an alley. He and Peter were close behind, but they stopped and waited on a fire escape.

“Don’t do crime,” Miles said, punctuating his advice with a punch.

The mugger ducked. “You’re so short, are you new?”

The kid growled- was he already picking up bad habits from Matt? Peter took at least a month to start hissing- and kicked the criminal’s legs out from under him. Once he was on the ground, Miles punched him and grabbed back the wallet he’d taken. Last thing he did was web up the guy and hand the wallet back to the victim.

This was where he became unsure of himself.

“Um, are you, uh. Are you okay, sir?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, kid, not my first rodeo. I’ve lived in Hell’s Kitchen for forty years. Get out of here before the cops show up.”

Miles skipped up the walls of the alley and was standing in front of them in no time. “I did it! I stopped a mugger!”

Matt grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up. “Onwards then?”

“Yeah!”

Miles ran ahead, tilting his head to listen for crimes, and Peter nudged Matt’s shoulder. “You like having him around.”

“I do. He’s a good kid.”

“I know. I’m glad we found him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 Translations (if spanishdict.com was right, and google translate for the italian. If you’re fluent and it wasn’t right, please let me know!):  
> “Damn!”  
> “You speak Spanish?”  
> “Yes! When did you learn to speak it?”  
> “During college. Also, we have a lot of clients that speak it. What about you?”  
> “My mom is Puerto Rican.”  
> “For what it’s worth, I can speak Spanish too. I learned in school, and Mr Delmar helped. (changes to Italian) Also, my aunt taught me some Italian.”  
> (also in Italian) “You should have said something sooner! I like speaking Italian, it's so smooth.” [return to text]
> 
> Anyway, idk if New York colleges do this, but my school has a thing where you can take two semesters of spanish in one semester, and I feel like Matt’s the kind of guy to go “why would i spend a year on something I could learn in a semester????”. Then he realized he’s FANTASTIC at languages and then decided to take a bunch more during college and kept learning from the people around him after he graduated. Also idk where I read it but in one of the books I read as a kid, dragons have the gift of languages, where they can speak any language (the character like? drank dragon blood? and then could ALSO speak any language??? Do any of you know this book bc now it’s going to bug me). In this au, I just headcanon that they’re really good at picking up languages fast (but not like, magically able to speak it).


	3. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt learns about dragon history, and his friends learn about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dudes, you cannot IMAGINE how delighted I was last chapter upon googling Marvel Asgardians to find one that I could pretend was a dragon, and finding one called Moondragon, aka Heather Douglas, who is ACTUALLY a dragon (kind of. it's wacky comic stuff). AND she’s gay IN CANON. Dragons and gays are the premise of this au, guys!!!! She’s perfect, what an icon. (however, I will be departing from the 616 canon in terms of her storyline quite a bit)

The next day, when they reached the rooftop rendezvous, Thor was waiting for them next to a woman. Peter was practically bouncing with excitement. Matt sighed and braced for the inevitable weirdness that would occur that night.

Thor was the first to speak, a grin stretching across his face. “Hello! This is Moondragon.”

“I’m Heather,” she said warmly.

“It’s so cool to meet you!” Peter said. “You’re a dragon like Double D?”

She nodded. “I have telepathic powers. With your permission, I’d like to speak to you in your mind to ensure privacy.”

Matt winced.

“I don’t know . . .”

“I will not dig for anything. I just want to form a link that we can send words through.”

Matt tilted his head. Truth. “Okay.”

She nodded. “Sit down. We will both enter a sort of trance. The others will guard us while we talk.” Matt reluctantly obeyed, and she sat down across from him, a couple feet away.

He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, but after a moment, his world on fire shifted. It quieted to an ember, then vanished entirely, and he just barely shook off his unease. Peter and Miles were guarding him. If something went wrong , they could take out the other dragon while she was focused on him, and he’d wake up. Would be able to see again.

Probably.

Is this alright with you?

_(Kind of. Keep going.)_

What’s your name?

_(He hesitates.)_

_(You won’t tell anyone?)_

I swear I would keep the information to myself.

_(Matt Murdock.)_

It’s good to meet you, Matt. May I tell you a story?

_(Um, sure?)_

In the beginning, there was nothing. No time, no space. Just six- somethings. We don’t know what.

When the universe exploded into being, these somethings were forged into stones. The Infinity Stones.

_(What are the Infinity Stones?)_

These six gems have unimaginable power. They can control minds, or create portals, or alter reality itself. They each control an aspect of existence. When used together, they can unravel the universe.

The first thing the stones created, after the galaxies and planets and nebulae, were dragons. Back at the beginning of the universe, dragons could be as big or small as they wanted, and soared through space. We played with planets like marbles and bounced on the surfaces of moons. We fed on nothing in particular, but bathed in the warmth of suns. We flew in flocks of six, a storm of dragons, and used our powers for each other to explore the skies that shone with the light of newborn stars.

_(Why six?)_

There were six stones, and each stone created dragons with a slightly different power. I’m a dragon born of the Mind stone, and I have telepathic and telekinetic powers. We found six others so that we could compensate for what we did not have, and to help others that did not have our power. In Asgard, there’s four other dragons. We’re a full storm, and if they ever have a problem that requires telepathy, they come to me. If I have a problem, those four are willing to help. We work as a team.

 _(Wait, not five other dragons?_ )

I’ll get to that. 

As creation expanded, the planets began to produce life. Some were slower to develop than others, and many stayed barren, but the dragons were curious. Those ancient ancestors of ours found planets that to love and used the power of the stones to become living, dying beings instead of cosmic entities. The ones who didn’t sort of drifted away to the edges of the universe. 

(They still sleep there now, and sometimes, people travel to the end of space to find them. If you’re very brave, and very lucky, they’ll grant a wish.)

When our ancestors gave up their immortality, they sacrificed a lot of their power, but a bit of it is still there. We have the power of the infinity stones, Matthew. A fraction of the ancient dragons’ strength is still incredible compared to many things in this world.

_(Then why don’t I have a ton of magic or whatever? If we’re so strong?)_

I told you we don’t have as much power as our ancestors. They had magic and dragon abilities. But now? Those gifted in with draconic abilities are usually weaker in terms of Infinity gem magic, and vice versa. I have strong psychic abilities, but I struggle to switch back and forth between forms, and I can’t maintain speed and strength in this body for very long. From what I’ve seen on the news, you slide easily from one skin to the other, and you can use your draconic abilities in your human body. I’m not surprised your magic is weak, especially if you’ve never trained it.

_(I don’t even know what it is.)_

I’ll help you find it. Perhaps I’ll even bring you back to New Asgard to have my storm help train you in magic.

The dragons passed down their memories of the universe as they aged and died. The Mind dragons gave copies of the memories to the next generation, who gave it to the next one, and so on, like passing down a photograph, only it stays as pristine as it was when it was first taken.

When I’m finished with this story, I will show you the universe as it was when it was born.

About four hundred million years ago, something happened. We don’t know why, but the dragons from the soul gem all vanished. Every single one.

_(Is that why your- your storm is only made of five dragons?)_

It is. We don’t know where they went or why, but we’ve been searching ever since.

Would you like to see a memory now?

_(Yes.)_

_And suddenly, Matt can see._

_He’s not himself, he doesn’t find this strange. He’s the dragon in the memory. He sees what that dragon saw, he thinks what that dragon thought, he feels that the dragon felt._

_He feels- free._

_He spins around a glowing gold-hot-bright, and glides easily into a cloud-dust-veil. He opens his mouth and lets it settle on his tongue, sweet and bright. Sweeps through the towering pillars and breathes and there’s a rift-tear in space and his others come through. They’re a dizzying swirl of colors and scales and wings and eyes and gems and they weave their magic with each other. He sends out his Mind powers, renewing the link-bond-tie between their minds._

_The presences at the edges of his mind strengthen, and he embraces them. His family. The dragon closest to him sends out their power and he can feel the Soul magic touch his heart. They are all linked-bonded-tied in mind and in spirit, and he is whole._

_They fly through space, sharing memories of the time they spent apart, and soon they come to a new rock-earth-planet. They are not cautious- there is no need for caution in this young universe. They split up, secure in the knowledge that they can find the others from anywhere at all._

_He spends a moment walking on the surface-ground, gazing at the rustling plants-greens-leaves and the creatures that chatter and move. He briefly wonders about the rumors of dragons giving up immortality to live on these rocks-earths-planets, but he dismisses the thought quickly. His family loves the stars._

_He does too._

_But he also loves the plants-greens-creatures, and is fascinated by them. He sends this emotion down the mind-heart-bond and receives an immediate agreement from the Reality dragon. A rush of possessiveness._

_The Soul dragon is next; they send a feeling of love for the creatures of the world, and a wish to stay and protect them. The others agree, the protectiveness and love rippling through the mind-heart-bond._

_Without saying anything, they meet in the atmosphere. Together, as a storm-family, they visit their favorite places in space. It takes them a long time, but they have an eternity until they give it up. They visit other dragons on other rocks-planets-worlds and all the ones who gave up immortality agree it was worth it. On one planet, they meet the children of the dragons, who have memories that are not their own of space and beauty and still agree that it was the right choice. They tell him and his family to remember to pass on their view of the universe, and he shares a memory with them before they leave._

_The last place he visits with his family before going back to their new earth-planet-home is the place they were born-created._

_He cries. They all do. But they’ve made up their minds, and the Space dragon takes them back to earth-planet-home with ease. On a beach, grey skies overhead and waves-water-tides beating against the sand, they give up their immortality together._

Matt emerged from the memory gasping and shot to his feet. Someone was there holding him up before he could even process that he was no longer in the psychic trance thing.

“Fuck. _Fuck_.”

The arms holding him up- Peter, it’s _Peter_ , he knew that heartbeat- loosened. “Double D, you okay?”

The smaller one, no. Miles, he reminded himself. Miles hung back, a little worried. The sudden switch from sight (strange, sharp sight, and an utterly alien but familiar form of thinking) to all of his senses (without a trance to mute them) was overwhelming, and he had to focus.

He blocked out the new memory to deal with later and focused on who he was. Matt Murdock, lawyer and vigilante. Not some weird space dragon. He listened to Peter’s heartbeat and used it to drown out everything else, focusing on the steady, though worried rhythm.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said when he no longer felt like clutching his hands over his ears. He stepped away from Peter, and scowled at the Asgardians. “She showed me a memory.”

“Really? One of hers?”

“No, it was, um. It belonged to a different dragon. Really, really old one.”

“Wait, could you-” Peter left it unspoken, and Matt grimaced.

“Yep. The transition back to this was um. Unpleasant.”

“Shit. We gotta get you home, this is your boyfriend’s department.”

Matt groaned. “No, I’m fine now, it was just startling to go back and forth.”

Miles finally caught on. “Hold on, in the memory, you weren’t, you know?”

“Exactly,” Matt said grimly.

“Shit,” the teen agreed.

The other dragon stepped closer and Peter growled at her.

“Hey. Spidey, be nice. Not her fault she didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?” Heather said. She sounded pretty businesslike, but Matt thought he heard an undercurrent of genuine curiosity. “Usually memories don’t have that effect on people. It’s slightly disorienting to be two people at once when you go back to just being yourself, but I’ve never seen anyone react so strongly. What do these two know that I don’t?”

Matt thought for a second. “Would I feel anything if I shared a memory with you?”

“I don’t think so? But you shouldn’t have reacted the way you did when I shared a memory with you, so I don’t know,” she said hesitantly.

“Let’s do this again. My turn. It’ll explain why it was, um. Disorienting. Only this time, can Peter and Miles join? If they want to?”

The teens’ heartbeats spiked. Miles asked, “You’re sure you’d be cool with that?”

“You’re both friends. About time you knew what it’s like upstairs, right? It’ll probably be just as disorienting for you guys though, just the reverse.”

“That’s fine,” Peter said immediately, and Miles vigorously nodded his agreement.

The four of them took a seat on the rooftop, and Heather reached out again.

In his mind, Matt smiled, and told the others, This is what it’s like. He pushed a memory from a couple nights ago towards the other three, and kept a hold on it himself.

_He’s running over rooftops in his world on fire, and listens to the city. In the apartments around him, he catches snatches of conversation._

_“. . . the grocery store for milk and . . .”_

_“I’ve got homework for my class about . . .”_

_“Bye! Love you!”_

_“ . . . next step, crack two eggs and whisk. Whisk?”_

_“Time for bed now, kiddo.”_

_“Haha! Get elektrofucked, Reggie!”_

_“Give me ten minutes and I’ll . . .”_

_“. . . in the middle of working, let me just . . .”_

_Below that, there is the hum of electronics all over the city. The lights, the fridges, the chargers. There are TVs blaring the news and speakers playing music. Cars honk and pedestrians yell. All throughout, the wind howls and hearts beat and people are laughing, crying, living._

_His balance is impeccable as he runs, and the air density and temperature shifting adds to the shape of the city in his mind._

_He smells food and spices from the Indian restaurant a block down drifting into the air, and he automatically starts identifying them (turmeric, cumin, cardamom, pepper, clove, garlic-) before filtering it into the background of his sensory intake. It wafts up towards the rooftops and helps him focus on something other than the trash filled alleyways._

_The air swirls around him, and he smiles into the breeze. He shifts into a dragon mid-stride and leaps into the air. He shoots into the sky, and lets the city fall away beneath him. The sounds and smells fade with distance as it’s replaced with the atmosphere._

_The change in air pressure and temperature is subtle, but he feels it, and if he didn’t have fire at his core, he would shiver in the cold._

_He feels the air currents keenly against his scales and wings, and catches a smooth updraft. He glides over the city, and enjoys how the sounds bounce off the glass-windowed buildings to create an echoey silhouette of the New York skyline. The wind carries the smell of rivers and oceans and other cities and his city._

_This is his home, and when it’s night and he puts on his costume, it’s exhilarating to run and jump and fly. It’s freeing._

_His senses blend and overlap to create an image of his surroundings. It’s easy to pick out things that he can smell or taste or hear, but knowing something and having to figure out what information gave him that conclusion is exhausting. They’re all tangled up in each other, and it’s hard to explain to the people who ask about his powers._

_When he gets tired of his flight, he soars home and sheds his suit and curls up next to Foggy in bed. He smells like coffee and shampoo and the Thai they had for dinner underneath toothpaste, but most of all he smells like Foggy. It’s comforting and makes him smile._

_He loves listening to Foggy’s heartbeat. It’s slow when he’s sleeping, but steady. It has the unique rhythm that’s all Foggy, and he would know it anywhere. It meant home._

Matt pulled them out of that memory, and they sat for a moment on the surfaces of all of their minds to talk where Thor couldn’t hear them.

“Holy shit, I knew your senses were strong, but I didn’t realize they looked like, well. Not ‘looked like’, I guess. But I mean, I didn’t know _that_ was how you experienced the world,” Peter sent down the connection, an overwhelming feeling of awe attached.

“How do you experience this trance thing?” Matt asked. “I can’t sense anything, it’s like when Frank shot me. I kind of hate it.”

“It’s just . . . it’s nothingness,” Miles said. “No sounds, nothing to see. Just your voices and whatever emotions and memories you send down the connection.”

“Wait, so Matt, you’re blind?” Heather asked.

“Yep. Since I was nine. That’s a memory I’m _not_ going to share, thanks.”

“I guess I can understand why it was so dizzying for you to go from deep in a dragon’s sighted memory to abruptly back in our world. We have a moment to slightly adjust here at the surface, before we go back.”

“I think you should do this with Foggy,” Peter announced. “Also, since when does she know your name? Does she know who Webs and I are?”

“I told her,” Matt said patiently.

She sent a feeling of agreement. “I don’t know who either of you are.”

“Are we about ready to go back?” Matt asked.

The spiders sent the mental agreement of a nod, and Heather sent them out, but before she left and brought Matt back into awareness, Heather hesitated. “How do you do that?”

“The chemicals that blinded me enhanced my senses,” Matt explained.

“I think . . . I think that maybe even though the chemical enhanced your senses, your magic helped you create a sense of the world around you.”

“Really? What kind of dragon do you think I am, then?”

“A Reality dragon. I think your magic is literally helping you perceive reality.”

“Really?”

“I’d have to bring the Reality dragon I know to test it, but I think so. I can explain more if we meet again. I’m sure your friends are waiting for us.”

With that, she broke the connection, and Matt woke up back on the Hell’s Kitchen rooftop. He winced at the surge in noise, but adjusted quickly, getting back to his feet with grace.

“Thank you both for coming. I really appreciate the help.”

“Of course!” Thor said enthusiastically. “Perhaps next time the two of us could talk. I’m sure you have plenty of fantastic stories.”

Matt tilted his head thoughtfully at Thor. “Okay. Next time. Not tomorrow, I want to spend a little time with my boyfriend for once, but maybe . . . How about Saturday? Meet back here.”

Thor’s heartbeat sounded pleased, as did his voice when he spoke. “I’d be honored. See you!”

Heather chuckled a little. “The nice thing about being telepathic is that I can ask my dragon friend all the way in Norway to come pick us up,” she said smugly.

Matt shivered as a portal opened, and another woman came through. “Ready to go?” she asked.

Thor and Heather waved goodbye, and Peter turned to Matt as soon as the trio was alone on a rooftop. “Are you going to fill us in on what she told you when you two were alone?”

Miles added, “You don’t have to if it’s private.”

“Oh, no, then you definitely have to tell us,” Peter said jokingly.

“I will, I will,” Matt said with a theatrical sigh. “I suppose. But you’re going to have to wait until game night in a couple days, because I only feel like explaining it once.”

Peter groaned. “Matt, you’re killing me.”

“You deserve it,” he said unsympathetically.

“You take that back!”

“Never.”

Miles sighed and interrupted. “I’m going to get back to Brooklyn. I have a bunch of homework to do.”

“Miles, weren’t you supposed to do homework _before_ patrol?” Peter said smugly.

“New exception to that rule,” he called back as he jogged for the edge of the roof, “it’s for any day except ones with Avengers!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wrote a couple sentences to this chapter, and then my brain caught up a thousand words later and I realized I had a fully written creation story instead of whatever the fuck i was planning. Just how it be, I guess. Anyway, I rolled with it and now I'm super excited to keep going with this. Maybe I should think about doing an infinity war/endgame rewrite for this au now that there’s infinity stones involved??? (haha no)


	4. Surprise! Ninjas.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avengers, meet Matt, round two!! This time, with more ninjas, and the whole gang behind Daredevil.

“Anyway, so after she kicked Peter and Miles out of the telepathic phone call, she told me that my dragon magic is probably part of how I’m able to combine my senses to get a picture of the world. Then she and Thor left.”

Claire raised her eyebrows. “So you’re magic now?”

“I guess?” Matt said with a shrug.

“He totally is,” Peter said excitedly. “Apparently, Heather’s going to bring another dragon to meet him and give him some magic advice!”

“Ugh. I can’t believe I’m still friends with you guys. This is insane.” Jessica groaned.

Luke looked contemplative. “Worse than resurrections?”

“Fine,” she relented. “That was worse.”

Claire ignored their bickering and pulled Matt aside to quietly ask, “How are you doing with all the new,” she waved her hand vaguely in his direction, “stuff?”

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. She gave him a dubious look. Even though he couldn’t see it, he must have heard  _ something  _ in her heartbeat, because he ducked his head reluctantly. “Okay, maybe it’s a little weird. But finding out you’re a dragon is way more of a surprise than finding out that you might be able to use magic.”

“You can talk to someone if it gets to be too much,” Claire reminded him. “Doesn’t have to be me, but it’s got to be somebody.”

“I still haven’t told my therapist about being Daredevil, or a dragon, or magic yet. We’ve been spending plenty of time working through the depression and all that shit,” he admitted.

“You don’t have to tell him until you’re comfortable with it.”

“I should though, right? I feel like that’s a pretty big part of me to leave out.”

“You will when you’re ready. You told Heather who you are right away. That trust is progress.”

“I literally had to be connected to her mind to trust her.”

Claire shrugged. “So? You trusted her in the end.”

Matt sighed and turned back to the rest of the group. “So, what are we doing tonight?”

Danny held up a bag and said, “Peter and Miles are here, so we have enough people for a good round of Smash Bros. It’s not nearly chaotic enough with only five people playing.”

“Awesome,” Matt said cheerfully. “I can focus on heckling random players, my favorite! Peter, I can’t see the screen, and we haven’t started yet, but I bet you’re losing.”

Peter tossed the nearest pillow at Matt’s head lazily, but he caught it easily. “You’re getting slow.”

“Oh yeah, old man?” he said, sitting up. “Say that to my face.”

“I can and I will. Your constant talking gives me a good idea of the direction to look.”

“You just going to stand there and take that?” Jessica said, prodding Peter upright. “Get ‘im.”

“Why would I listen to you?” the teen joked, burrowing back into his nest of cushions. “All you old people are the same. No imagination.”

“Oh, really? I’m going to kick your ass, brat.”

Claire ignored the bickering vigilantes and watched Colleen, Luke, and Danny set up the Switch and pass out controllers. Jessica, Matt, Peter, and Miles, who’d been drawn into the argument, were on the brink of a friendly fistfight, and the addition of video game controllers for three of them did not help the situation; Peter immediately began dissecting the virtues of a GameCube controller, and Miles rolled his eyes and called  _ him _ old.

When the music started up, they got down to business, with Matt adding helpful suggestions. “Hey, from what I hear, you should avoid falling off the cliff.”

Peter made his selection and everyone groaned. “Fucking  _ Lucas _ . I’m going to strangle you with that snake if you use PK Thunder more than once,” Jessica threatened.

“Sure,” he said smugly, “if you can catch me.”

Claire picked Young Link, out of appreciation for the character’s boomerangs, but when she glanced away from the screen, she saw that Matt was listening intently.

“What is it?”

“There’s something- I don’t know.”

The ragtag group of vigilantes put down their controllers, and Miles asked, “Suit up?”

Matt frowned in concentration. “The Avengers just came into my range. They’re talking about their mission, hold on.”

They waited with bated breath, and Matt shot upright. “Fuck. _ Fuck.  _ Okay, yes, suit up  _ now _ .”

Peter grabbed the duffle bag with their costumes and threw Matt and Miles their armor before pulling on his own hastily. They kept it around during game nights in case of sudden parkour/crime-fighting impulses, but this sounded like an emergency.

While he changed, Matt narrated, “A couple Avengers were there to break up a Hydra deal but those Nazi assholes are working with the goddamn  _ Hand _ . There are about twenty Hydra goons and fifty ninjas in Columbus Park and only three of them. They’re about to get their asses kicked.”

The three vigilantes with secret identities finished getting their armor on, and Claire caught Colleen’s arm. “Hey, where’s your first aid kit? If anyone gets hurt, send them here.”

“Including Avengers?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Might as well.”

“Under the kitchen counter. Good luck.”

Claire watched the seven idiots file out hurriedly, and called after them, “Don’t get hurt!”

She settled down to wait for one of them to ignore her instructions, and wasn’t disappointed. It only took thirty minutes for Luke to come through the door, leading Captain America. She sighed. Vigilantes were the same, no matter how government sanctioned. Always getting hurt.

Steve had been having a great day. That is, until he got called in on a mission. He was retired most of the time, but he made an exception for fighting Hydra. He was always down to beat the shit out of Nazis.

Unfortunately, Nazis were always down to beat the shit out of him, and this time, they found ninjas to do it for them.

“Nat! What’s your status?”

“Not stabbed yet,” she said through gritted teeth. “This is the Hand. I hate these guys.”

Clint yelled his agreement, and Steve barely raised his shield fast enough to keep from being decapitated. “What’s their deal?”

“Secret cult, you know the drill,” the archer grumbled.

“Got it.”

He wove in and out of the fray, but there were way too many of the ninjas, all moving as one organism.

He was almost to Nat’s position when he heard someone behind him. He dodged, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Not quite.

The sword skewered him in the arm, and he growled.

The ninjas surged towards him, like sharks smelling an injured fish, but a ringing shout interrupted them.

“The dragon is here!”

The black-clad limbs surrounding the three Avengers deserted them, and Steve took advantage of the break to put pressure on his stab wound. Nat dashed over to him and started helping him out, and Steve saw Clint start to make his way over from where he’d been marooned in the sea of ninjas.

From the darkness, a short woman and a man built like a brick wall emerged, and the man firmly said, “You’d better come with us.”

Steve frowned. “Who the hell are-”

“We’re here to help. Daredevil’s got this.”

Across the park, a growl rippled through the air, and Steve whirled. There was a dragon. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy, whatever. We all already knew this. We have a nurse, come on,” the woman interrupted.

Steve exchanged a look with the others, and Natasha murmured, “News calls them the Defenders. Pretty well known vigilante group.”

He glared at his arm, and sighed. “Yeah, sure. Lead on.”

The man turned to take them to the apartment, and the woman chuckled. “I’m not babysitting. Have fun, I’m going to go beat up ninja assholes.” She waded back into the fray, hurling ninjas out of her way as she walked.

“Jessica, it’s your turn next time,” he called half-heartedly.

Natasha grinned at Steve and he groaned. “Seriously?”

“I think she’s got the right idea. Take Clint for back-up.”

“Fine.”

Natasha followed Jessica, and Clint shrugged at Steve. “We do what she says.”

About a block later, the bulky man breathed more easily. “We weren’t followed. They were too distracted by Daredevil.”

Steve gritted his teeth. His arm was starting to throb now that his adrenaline was wearing off, and Clint gave him a sympathetic look before making conversation with the stranger.

“So, you’re Luke Cage, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Clint. It’s good to meet you! The Defenders are pretty awesome.”

Luke cast an unimpressed stare over his shoulder back at them. “You’re the idiots that were trying to recruit Daredevil.”

“Oh. He, uh. He told you about that?”

“He told us you wanted him to join the Avengers, and that you’re a liar.”

“Hey!”

Steve sighed. “I apologize for this shithead.”

“ _ Hey! _ ”

“You’re not going to try to recruit him tonight, are you?”

“Pretty sure I’m a little busy trying not to bleed out,” Steve grumbled.

“He’s not interested, you know. He protects his territory and that’s it.”

“Territory?” CLint asked curiously.

Luke chuckled. “He didn’t tell you to get out of his city?”

Steve watched Clint’s jaw drop, and assumed that the vigilante was right. “Daredevil’s territorial about New York, or just Hell’s Kitchen?”

“Little bit of both. Protective of New York, but territorial about the Kitchen. He has to trust someone to let them interfere in Hell’s Kitchen, like him letting us patrol there if he’s busy. But other dragons?” Luke shrugged. “I don’t think he lets them within a hundred miles of New York.”

“That makes a lot of sense.” Clint said. When Steve looked at him curiously, he explained, “It’s like the difference between someone breaking into your building versus someone breaking into your apartment.”

Luke nodded. “Exactly. We’re here.” He stopped in front of an unassuming building and opened the door. He led them upstairs, calling, “We’ve got company. Stabbed in the arm.”

The woman who came to the door sighed, evaluating the heros with the same look in her eye as the nurses Steve remembered from the war. “Come on in. Captain, couch.”

She had to be a nurse. No one else had the same tone in their voice as a nurse. Steve settled into the couch and she opened the first aid kit. “I’m going to disinfect the wound first, then sew it up,” she told him calmly. “Luke, how were the others when you left?”

“I’m going to head back. There should be enough of them to take down the ninjas, with Daredevil as a dragon, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Hawkeye, you coming?”

“Hell yeah!” the archer said cheerfully. “Let’s go fight ninjas!”

Steve listened to Clint and Luke leave, but his focus was on the business-like nurse. “Thanks for patching me up.”

“It’s what I do,” she said simply. “These vigilantes wouldn’t last a week without me.”

“What’s your name?”

She hesitated, the pause nearly imperceptible. “I’m Claire.”

“Call me Steve. So, uh. How’d you get dragged into this whole vigilante mess?”

“Which time? The first one I met was Daredevil. I fished him out of a dumpster, half-dead., and fixed him up. I was on duty when Jessica and Luke came into the hospital, and I accidentally picked the only martial arts teacher in Manhattan that doubles as a vigilante to teach me self defense,” she grumbled. “Then some shit went down that brought these idiots together and that’s about when I gave up trying to distance myself from the vigilante thing.”

“You regret meeting them?”

She stared at him, her gaze sharp. “No. They’re my  _ family _ now. If you Avengers are going to keep harassing Daredevil, we’re going to defend him.”

“We just want to be able to contact him in case of an emergency, not recruit him,” Steve explained. He weighed his choices, and decided that if he could get the team nurse on board, it would be way easier to get Daredevil to agree to help, and let out some of the truth. “There’s been . . . rumors. Something’s coming. We’re not sure what, yet, but we want to be ready. A dragon in our contact list? That would go a long way.”

She busied herself, cleaning up and getting the first aid kit ready for the next injured vigilante. “Sounds like something you should be telling him, instead of me.”

Steve winced. “We made the mistake of sending Barton without all the information. He made sure to, ah. Kindly inform us, later, that we screwed up.”

“Listen, just be honest with him,” Claire advised. “If this mysterious rumor is a threat to Earth, he’ll probably help out. Ask the others, too. They’re surprisingly competent, when they have to be.”

Steve agreed, and when the Defenders and his missing teammates showed up, mostly intact, Claire eyed him pointedly. Fine.

He stood and addressed the crowd of superheros. “Thank you for coming to help us, we had faulty intel. We appreciate it. In addition, Daredevil, we apologize for not being clear about our intentions. There’s something coming. We’re going to need everyone we can get to fight it. That means all of you, if you’ll agree.”

The Defenders exchanged glances, and Clint and Nat strode over to back him up.

Daredevil stepped forward, arms crossed. “What’s this mysterious threat?”

“We’re not . . . completely sure,” he admitted. “It has something to do with these things called Infinity Stones.” He didn’t miss the flicker of recognition that played across Daredevil’s face, and the way the team all glanced at the dragon briefly. They knew something.

“What do you know about them?” he asked, trying to sound tactful.

The vigilante paused, but said carefully, “I only know what Thor told me. If it becomes relevant, I’m sure he’ll share with the class.”

Thor was talking to him? Weird, he hadn’t mentioned it. Steve did his best to keep the surprise off his face, but judging by Daredevil’s expression, he or one of the spies failed. “We just want to keep the world safe.”

Daredevil tilted his head and nodded at his allies, who were giving him questioning looks. “He’s been telling the truth so far. Give us a minute,” he said towards the Avengers.

The vigilantes moved into the other room to discuss along with Claire, and Steve listened in, thankful for his enhanced hearing. Nat and Clint waited patiently, assuming he would fill them in later.

“We can’t trust them,” Jessica hissed.

“I think we can!” a voice he didn’t know insisted. “I remember Captain America, back before K’un-Lun! He’s a good guy.”

Jessica snorted. “He’s working for the government. All of us have gotten screwed over by that before. They’re just gonna use us as soldiers, or do  _ experiments _ ,” she spat.

Claire jumped in. “I think we can pretty safely say you won’t be experimented on. They wouldn’t need to negotiate a team-up if that was their end goal.”

“Um,” a young voice interjected. Shit, that was Stark’s student. Peter? Yeah. “Remember how I used to kind of, um, intern for the Avengers? Well, they did kind of try to help me, they just didn’t go about it the right way. I think that if we make it clear we’re only going to pitch in on world-ending events, not stop terrorists or whatever, it’ll be okay.”

Daredevil’s growly voice softened for Peter. “Go on.”

“Well, we look out for the people, they look at the bigger picture. That’s just how it is. But we can’t protect the little guy if they’re not there anymore, you know? If there’s something big coming, we should help where we can. Like, um. Like consultants.”

“Plus,” another young-sounding vigilante chimed in, “the Avengers are so cool.”

“It has something to do with the Infinity Stones,” Luke’s steady voice said. “I think we should know what’s going on. You said those were the first things in  _ existence _ .”

“That’s what Thor told me.”

“And you’re sure that they’re telling the truth?” another woman said cautiously.

Daredevil must have nodded or shaken his head, because the conversation changed. “Alright, vote time,” Jessica sighed. “All in favor of working as vigilante PIs for these asshole super-cops, raise your hands.”

Steve waited, and in a second, she continued, “All opposed?”

“Fine, but for the record, if they start asking a bunch of questions about how we do what we do, I told you so.”

The assortment of superheroes trickled back into the main room, and Daredevil nodded at him. “We’re in.”

Steve grinned, and went to thank him, but Daredevil interrupted. “ _ If _ we get some shit straight first.”

He grimaced at the thought of negotiation, but nodded. “That’s reasonable. Got a paper and pen? We can write it down as we go.”

For some reason, a few of the vigilantes seemed amused.

Daredevil tilted his head to look at Peter. “Spidey, can you type while we talk? You brought your computer, right?”

“Sure did! Hey, Cap, did Mr. Stark ever get around to telling you who I am?” he asked as he dug around in his backpack.

“He did,” Steve said apologetically. “Do they know?”

“Oh, yeah, of course. Okay, go for it, guys.”

Steve groaned. This was going to  _ suck _ .

PETER PARKER’S GUIDE TO A FUNCTIONING TEAM:

  1. Do not take a vigilante’s mask off. Ever. If someone wears a mask, it’s there for a reason.
  2. In case of medical emergency: If the injured teammate is unable to consent, find another Defender before doing anything.
    1. The only exceptions are if it’s about to be fatal. For example, if someone is in cardiac arrest, please do CPR!
  3. Seriously, we stay anonymous. Daredevil and the two Spider-Men are masked vigilantes. We stay that way or we bail.
  4. If one of us dies helping the Avengers, Tony Stark will give a hundred thousand dollars to our next-of-kin, and keep our identity secret. He would have to know, to give the money to our next-of-kin, but he’s the _only one_. Death doesn’t stop the consequences our friends and family would face if we were revealed. 
  5. These rules can be renegotiated later, but all Defenders must be present and vote on it.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys know that one post making a joke about the headline “Blind bisexual goose named Thomas who spent 6 years in a love triangle with two swans and helped raise 68 babies dies at the ripe old age of 40”??? EVERY SINGLE TIME I see it I think of Matt Murdock.  
> -blind bisexual goose? Check.  
> -6 years (ish) in a love triangle with two lovely swans/blondes??? Check.  
> -helped raise 68 babies/a bunch of Spider-Men??? Double check.  
> -dies at 40?? Haha yeah probably, dumbass vigilantes  
> Anyway, if I have to think about it, so do you guys


	5. Rooftop Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor and Matt talk, and Miles tries to figure out where he fits into the team.

"You really got dragged out of a dumpster?" Thor laughed. The pair of them were sitting on a roof, swapping stories after spending half the night stopping petty muggers and the like. Hell's Kitchen was quiet.

"Oh, man, you would not believe the number of times I've been in situations like that," Matt groaned. "I nearly got buried under a forty story building once. I mean, I got out before it went down, but it was a close call."

"I would be glad to hear more of your adventures! You’re a strong fighter, from what I’ve seen. I’m sure you have stories to match."

Matt tilted his head and hesitated. "Sure, but, um. Before we do, you seem like a good person. How good are you at keeping secrets?"

"I would guard a secret with my life, Daredevil," he said sincerely. Truth.

"Thanks. Um, you can call me Matt," he said, pulling off his helmet. "Please don't tell anyone. Heather already knows, but none of the other Avengers."

He couldn't see Thor's face, but the alien's heartbeat was steady, and when he spoke, his voice was friendly. "I'm honored that you trust me with your identity."

"Well, things are changing," Matt shrugged. "I already have a lot of people who know. It gets easier every time, and if you can't trust an alien god, who can you trust?"

“Now, I believe you promised me you’d share some of your stories?”

Matt tilted his head. “You’re not surprised that I’m blind.”

“I already knew,” Thor said simply.

“Because of the alien thing?”

He shook his head. “I saw how you fought, earlier. You don’t need light, and you don’t turn your head as much as an average fighter. And the way you move your head, it’s like you’re listening.”

“You didn’t say anything.”

“I wasn’t going to pry. Asgard is full of warriors who have lost something, no matter what they gain in return. My father sacrificed an eye for knowledge. I lost an eye in battle. It happens.”

“Thanks,” Matt said. “Usually people aren’t so comfortable with it at first.”

“An injury doesn’t make a person any less,” Thor said with a shrug. "If you ever need it, there's a place in New Asgard for you." 

The alien sobered, and continued in a quieter voice, "I won’t be there, though. Something is coming. Loki has shared some troubling information with me, and I have to go find out if it's true. I won't be back for a year or so."

Matt frowned. "Where are you going?"

"Space."

"Wow. You're serious?"

"I'm sorry to leave so soon after you trusted me with your identity."

Matt laughed and put his helmet back on. "No worries. In space, you can't tell anyone from Earth. Unless- shit, do aliens abduct humans? Should I stay away from cornfields?"

"I think any aliens interested in you would find their ship suddenly missing several engines and full of claw marks," Thor said in amusement. "You're a warrior."

"Damn straight," Matt said, leaning back with a grin. "Same to you."

"Only most of the time," Thor admitted with a grin. "Once, I was on this planet named Sakaar, and I got kidnapped by Brunnhilde. It’s how we met, actually. Loki and I had just been attacked by my secret older sister, Hela, and-”

Matt sighed happily and listened to Thor tell stories of far away or long ago adventures, and traded him some stories in exchange. 

Two days after Thor left, Matt was patrolling Brooklyn with Miles.

“Why does Spidey always call you old man?” the teen asked as he punched a mugger.

“Because we express our love and friendship through spite and sarcasm. Next question.”

“But you're not like that with me? You call Spidey all kinds of names and you two get into fistfights all the time, but you never do that with me,” Miles continued.

Matt laughed, and cooed, “Aw, Webs, you feelin' jealous? Now that we're done with this asshole,” he said, pointing at the fallen criminal, “I can beat the tar out of you. I'm still figuring out how to train you, anyway, it would be easy.”

Miles was unamused, but he sighed and clambered up the side of the building instead of letting a string of insults loose.

“Aw, kiddo, come on,” Matt sighed. He followed, jumping from fire escape to fire escape, and relaxed a little in the relative privacy of the rooftop. “Peter and I have just been working together longer, that's all. You're still figuring out where you fit with us, y'know? The two of us aren't going to mess with you that much until you've figured out how this shit works.”

“I wasn't sure if it was something I was supposed to do or not,” Miles admitted. "It's weird thinking about insulting an adult. My parents tell me to respect my elders all the time, and if I talked to my teachers at school the way Peter talks to you, I'd be grounded for years.”

He snorted. “Miles, we're vigilantes. Peter doesn't talk to his teachers this way. We insult each other because we've earned each other's respect. We've bailed each other out of trouble more times than I can count, and we've worked together long enough to be at ease around each other. You just weren't there to see us figure this shit out.”

“You two are both idiots,” Miles said, dawning realization in his voice. Like it explained everything.

Well, it kind of did.

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up,” Matt admitted. “We figured this shit out as we went. When I first started teaching Peter, I was terrified of fucking him up, but we figured out how to make both of us feel safe with the lessons. Remember the conversation we had, the first time I taught you? About boundaries, and making sure we told the other person if something was over the line? It took Peter and I a month to figure out how to have that conversation.”

Some of the tension went out of Miles. “And you made sure to have it right away with me.”

“Exactly. We'll get there, don't worry. Friendships take time, and it helps that Peter's got enough experience that I don't have to worry anymore about what he might not know yet. You'll get there, Miles.”

Miles shifted a little, and Matt tilted his head. The teen was still unsure about something. What?

His question was answered when Miles quickly hugged him. The teen let go before Matt could do anything and shuffled in place.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

Matt smiled. “Kid, Foggy's been telling me for _years_ that it's okay to ask for a hug if you need it. Peter joined the crusade, too. My turn to pass on the wisdom.”

Miles' heartbeat stumbled in a way that Matt thought might mean hope, although he hadn't known the teen for very long. “Really?”

“I bet you don't get as much contact with people as you used to, spending your weeks at Visions,” he said thoughtfully.

“Yeah. I miss my family during the weekdays,” Miles admitted.

“Well,” Matt said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile, “don't worry. You've got us now. Foggy gives the _best_ hugs. All the Nelsons do, really, but you haven't met them yet.”

“Yet?”

“You're a part of the family now,” Matt told him with a grin. “You're going to meet everybody at some point.”

Miles didn't say anything, but by the sound of his heartbeat, he was happy with that arrangement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh this whole fic was so hard to write. Apparently, I enjoy doing shorter, slice-of-life stuff more, because that's what I kept getting sidetracked into. I'm not thrilled with this fic, and I might have to go back and rewrite some parts because I think the characterization got a little screwy in some parts because I kept jumping around the timeline, but at least it's done! I can write shitty little slice-of-life pieces without the guilt of a WIP now!

**Author's Note:**

> Matt is enjoying lying through his teeth about how old he is and is 100% trying to be spooky bc he’s a drama queen and really likes The Aesthetic™.
> 
> Also “He lies bc he’s a spy” is my new get out of jail free card for combining the movie-verse and the (much better) comic version of Clint. Oh, something funky happened in the movies, like Marvel erasing his disability? How about, it was there, it’s just that all the Avengers are dumbasses and Clint is a fucking liar who is happy to let people continue with their misconceptions. I mean, in canon, he hid an entire family for a decade or whatever. Is it really a stretch to assume maybe that’s not all he hid? Enter comic Clint, stage left. Anyway, “He’s a liar” is slightly better than “bc i said so”
> 
> Lastly, those are clint’s names for people. I went back and forth on how to put the text conversations in, but I thought it would be fun to figure out what Clint might name them in his phone’s address book, rather than what they would use as usernames in an online messaging service.  
> For if you were slightly confused by the names:  
> arrowsarecool=Clint  
> Nat=Natasha  
> starknaked=Tony  
> capncrunch=Steve  
> stark’s friend=Rhodey  
> longhairdontcare=Bucky  
> mr phd=Bruce
> 
> Anyway I set out to write a chapter like “haha what do the avengers think about Daredevil?” and then wound up with 1000 words of Clint having an identity crisis. that’s life lol


End file.
